Double knee surgery perfect fit for childhood sweethearts

Diana and
Stephen Snelling do everything together. Including knee surgery, on their left
knees, on the same day.

The pair are
childhood sweethearts and neighbours who went to the same junior school. They
lost touch during senior school but reconnected afterwards, starting a lifelong
of being by each other’s side.

In July last
year, the pair had knee surgery at St John of God Murdoch. They had
contemplated having it months apart, until their surgeon Gerald Lim suggested
they have it on the same day.

Stephen (76)
was the first to go into surgery and said it had been successful for them.

“We had both
suffered for a number of years,” he said.

“My knee was
clicking and I needed a walking stick. I had terrific pain, but I’m looking
forward to being able to get back to an active lifestyle.”

For Diana
(78) making the decision of knee replacement surgery was a chance to get back
to living a full life, including enjoying nature and holidays.

“Before
surgery we were hesitant to book holidays because we didn’t know if we would be
ok or what was going to happen,” she said.

“There were
steps at our new house leading down to the jetty and I couldn’t get down them.
At the local supermarket, I would not be able to walk down one aisle without
needing to sit down. Now, I’m hopeful that I can get back to those normal,
everyday activities without trouble.

For the
couple, having surgery on the same day ended up being very convenient.

“We had thought about Stephen going first and
having his surgery, then me six months later,” Diana said.

“But as I don’t drive and we didn’t know exactly how well we would recover, we thought it could possibly be a whole year of recovery. Dr Lim’s suggestion of going straight to rehabilitation afterwards worked out really well and being able to use the walk to Stephen’s room as part of my rehab has been a good incentive.

Stephen said
he was looking forward to returning to one of his old hobbies.

“About the
only thing we don’t do together is cycle,” he said.

“I would like
to get back on the bike and out into the garden more too.”

Now, the pair
are focussed on their next holiday to Cairns later this year with family.

Diana said of
her surgery experience; “I put it off for 10 years but when you wear out the
cartilage and it is just bone on bone it gets pretty uncomfortable.

“We’ve had a
few procedures each here at Murdoch and the care and facilities are fantastic.”

St John of
God Murdoch is a growing technological hub, with advanced orthopaedic equipment
including the Mako and Navio systems that provide robotic-assisted orthopaedic
surgery options.